The presence of dissolved or entrained gases in water streams is frequently encountered, and often is acceptable. However, there are systems in which gases are injected into the stream where they can result in serious problems.
An example is in the treatment of a flowing water stream with ozone. The ozone is generally injected into the water stream at about 2% of the remainder of a gas stream from whose oxygen the ozone was generated. The remainder of the gas stream is the remaining atmospheric gases, some of whose oxygen was converted into ozone in an ozone generator. This remainder is principally nitrogen, along with lesser amounts of carbon dioxide and other atmospheric gases.
As a consequence, in order to inject relatively small amounts of ozone into the stream, significant amounts of nitrogen will also be injected, and will either be dissolved or entrained. This additional nitrogen can result in nutrification in systems such as aquaculture, and in field crops. In fact, even the elimination of atmospheric gases from an irrigating stream can result in a lessened tendency toward nitrate formation in soils.
The above circumstances identify "chemical" reasons to remove gases from a flowing water stream. There are other reasons. The injection of air into potable water systems is commonly used as a means to remove iron from the water. Later it is desirable to remove the entrained air after the treatment process has been completed.
This invention is directed to the removal of gases from a water stream. It is primarily directed toward removal of air and of its component gases.
A flowing stream of water generally includes dissolved gases and entrained gases. The term "stream" includes any kind of flow-open or within pressurized piping systems. This invention is most effective for removing entrained gases as a function of differential specific gravities. However, it is also effective for removing at least some dissolved gases as a function of a drop in pressure in the system, followed by their separation as a function of difference in specific gravities.
It is an object of this invention to provide a static separator to remove gases from a flowing stream of water.